358 pliny's natural ihstory. [Book XYI. 



A sixth variety is the torch-tree, 20 properly so called, 

 which gives out more resin than any of the others, with the 

 exception of the pitch-tree ; but its resin is more liquid than 

 that of this last. The wood, too, of this tree is more particu- 

 larly employed for kindling fires and giving torch-light in 

 religious ceremonials. Of this tree it is the male only that 

 bears what is known to the Greeks by the name of " syce," 21 

 remarkable for its extremely powerful odour. When the 

 larch 22 is changed into the torch-tree, it is a proof that it is in 

 a diseased state. 



The wood of all these trees, when set fire to, gives out im- 

 moderate volumes of sooty smoke, 23 and sputters every now and 

 then with a sudden crackling noise, while it sends out red- 

 hot charcoal to a considerable distance — with the sole exception 

 of that of the larch, which will neither burn 24 nor char, nor, in 

 fact, suffer any more from the action of fire than a stone. All 

 these trees are evergreens, and are not easily 25 distinguished 

 by the foliage, even by those who are best acquainted with 

 them, so nearly related are they to one another. The pitch- 

 tree, however, is not so high as the larch ; which, again, is 

 stouter, and has a smoother back, with a more velvety leaf, 

 more unctuous to the touch, thicker, and more soft and flexi- 

 ble. 26 The pitch-tree, again, has a leaf more sparsely scattered 

 and drier ; it is thinner also, and of a colder nature, rougher all 

 over in appearance, and covered with a resinous deposit : the 

 wood of this tree is most like that of the fir. The larch, when 



20 It is doubtful if the tseda, or torch-tree, has been identified. Some 

 take it to be the Pinus mugho of Miller, the torch-pine of the French ; 

 others, again, suggest that it is the same as the Finus cembro of the bo- 

 tanists. 



21 So called from its resemblance to a fig. Fee says that there is little 

 doubt that this pretended fruit was merely a resinous secretion, which 

 hardens and assumes the form of a fig. 



22 He somewhat mistranslates a passage of Theophrastus here, _ who, 

 without transforming the larch into another tree, says that it is a sign of 

 disease in the larch, when its secretions are augmented to such a degree 

 that it seems to turn itself into resin. 



23 The lamp-black of commerce is made from the soot of the pine. 



24 This statement, though supported by that of Vitruvius, B. ii. c. 9, is 

 quite erroneous. The wood of the larch gives out more heat than that of 

 the fir, and produces more live coal in proportion. 



25 This, Fee remarks, is the fact. 



36 This description is inexact, and we should have some difficulty in 

 recognizing here the larch as known to us. 



